1^^— 

675 


is 


The  Grant  &  Wilson  Campaign 


H 


SECRETARY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE, 

Delivered  at  Platt's  Hall,  San  Francisco,  Wednesday,  Oct.  2d,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Republican  State  Central  Committee. 

(Reported  phonographically  by  AXDHETW  J.  MIBSH.) 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  LADIES  AND  GEN- 
TLEMEN: I  confess  to  a  pleasurable  sur- 
prise in  so  dull  a  campaign  as  this,  to 
find  an  undiminished  interest  in  the 
political  movement  of  the  country.  I 
had  supposed  we  should  be  much  in  the 
situation  of  a  preacher  who  should  at- 
tempt a  revival  of  religion  when  the 
devil  was  dead.  [Laughter.]  It  is  very 
hard  work  to  pull  on  the  end  of  a  rope 
when  nothing  is  tied  to  the  other  end 
of  it ;  and  in  this  canvass,  with  our  own 
party  united  and  compact,  not  only  con- 
fident but  certain  of  a  sweeping  victory, 
it  would  not  have  been  strange  if  our 
people  should  have  been  found  lethargic. 
We  look  in  various  directions  for  an 
enemy  and  we  hardly  know  whether  we 
have  found  him  oVnot.  For  we  must 
recognize  the  fact  that  the  old  Demo- 
cratic ship  has  foundered  on  the  political 
sea.  She  is  dismantled,  and  it  becomes' 
our  humane  duty'  to  see  how  many 
lives  can  be  saved.  [Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.] I  am  not  here  to-night  to  say 
one  ill-natured  word  of  any  political 
opponent  in  the  Democratic  party.  I 
have  some  feelings  of  sorrow  and  of 
sympathy  for  men  who  have  maintained 


an  upright  and  a  downright  sincerity  of 
conviction  and  earnestness  of  action  for 
that  which  they  deemed  to  be  right. 
But  I  confess  to  some  shame  that  a 
party  composed  of  Americans,  should 
be  able  in  a  moment,  apparently  for 
what  they  hope  they  might  make  by 
it,  to  give  the  lie  to  the  whole  of  their 
political  lives.  Our  audiences  are  mixed 
this  year.  To  Republicans  who  are 
earnest  supporters  of  the  Adminis- 
tration, I  need  make  no  appeal. 
They  need  no  word  of  encouragement. 
"All  is  well."  The  different  sections  of 
the  Democratic  party  I  desire  to  address 
myself  to.  What  I  say  will  not  be  con- 
fidential, and  I  shall  be  glad  to  have  my 
Republican  friends  remain.  [Laughter.] 
The  Democrats  who  really  meant  what 
they  said  in  the  past,  who  had  some 
vit.'\vs  of  the  principles  upon  which  the 
Government  was  founded,  however  erro- 
neous may  have  been  their  opinions  and 
their  action  to  maintain  them,  to  them 
I  desire  to  address  some  reasons  why 
they  can  well  afford,  maintaining  still 
their  self-respect,  to  support  this  Admin- 
istration and  favor  the  re-election  of 
President  Grant.  [Applause.] 


2. 


To  those  Democrats  wlio  are  willing 
to  sail  before  the  mast  in  their  own 
ship,  after  the  cook  has  been  taken  out 
of  the  galley  and  put  in  command,  I 
address  no  appeal.  To  the  renegade 
Republicans  what  shall  be  said  ?  I  can- 
not appeal  to  their  consciences,  for  it  is 
evident  they  have  none.  [Laughter.] 
I  cannot  appeal  to  their  intellect,  for  if 
any  of  them  possess  it,  it  is  clouded 
over  with  the  passions  of  envy  and 
hatred.  I  cannot  appeal  to  their  shame, 
for  even  of  that  they  seem  to  be  desti- 
tute. And  so  we  will  on  with  our  grand 
procession  without  them.  It  is  an  un- 
weeded  garden  that  grows  to  seed,  but 
the  Republican  garden  is  the  first  that 
ever  weeded  itself.  [Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.] 

Now,  I  used  to  be  a  Democrat  myself, 
in  good  and  regular  standing.  [Laugh- 
ter.] I  got  a  little  fishy  when  I  refused 
to  bolt  the  party  when  Douglas  was 
nominated,  but  I  thought  that  was  the 
regular  nomination,  and  that  is  what 
the  Democrats  always  stuck  by  in 
those  days,  you  know.  And  I  know 
our  Democratic  teachers  had  some 
views  as  to  what  the  Constitution  meant, 
what  the  Nation  had  power  to  do 
through  Congress  and  what  the  States 
had  power  to  do  through  the  State  Gov- 
ernments. The  Democrats  differ  them- 
selves, as  you  know,  upon  some  of  these 
questions,  and  I  want  to  address  a  few 
words  right  in  this  place,  perhaps  of  dry 
argument,  because,  if  you  have  come  to- 
gether for  anything  in  the  world,  I  will 
ask  my  clerical  brother  (turning  to  Mr. 
Benton)  if  it  is  not  the  case — we  have 
come  to  preach  to  sinners  and  not  to  the 
righteous,  for  their  souls  can  only  be 
converted  through  exhortation.  [Laugh- 
ter.] 

I  want  to  ask  you  Democrats  who  are 
not  willing  to  say  you  have  always  been 
Abolitionists ;  who  are  not  willing  to 
say  you  never  meant  what  you  said  ;  who 
are  not  willing  to  follow  the  fortunes  of 
the  Liberal  Republican  managers,  who 
seem  to  have  taken  possession  of  your 
ship — I  want  to  ask  you  if  you  really  be- 
lieve that  Democratic  opinions  can  be 
enforced  in  this  country  ? 

I  want  to  ask  you  candidly  if  you 
don't  think  a  fair  trial  has  been  had; 
whether  you  have  not  made  every  ap- 
peal to  the  judgment  of  men ;  whether 
you  do  not  think  you  have  been  honestly 


and  fairly  defeated  at  the  ballot  box,  and 
whether*  you  don't  know  the  American 
people  to  be  opposed  to  your  doctrines  ? 
If  you  so  believe,  let  me  ask  you  what 
iota  of  self-respect  you  forfeit  by  frankly 
and  candidly  saying  so.  It  is  not  given 
to  any  man  to  change  his  opinions  at 
will,  and  every  man  who  has  sense 
knows  when  the  time  arrives  when  it  is 
folly  for  him  to  seek  to  impress  his  opin- 
ions upon  others.  I  do  not  propose  to 
criticise  or  deride  a  single  Democratic 
dogma  of  the  past.  I  only  appeal  to 
you  now  that  your  own  party  organiza- 
tion has  made  a  profession  of  surrender- 
ing its  ideas.  I  ask  you,  in  the  first  place, 
whether  you  believe  that  organization 
can  be  sincere  in  its  declarations; 
whether  you  believe  that  the  delegates 
who  assembled  at  Baltimore,  on  the  10th 
of  July,  meant  what  they  said  in  their 
platform  ?  I  want  to  ask  you,  if  they 
did  mean  it,  why  you  should  contend 
against  the  Republican  party  which  in- 
augurated and  carried  out  those  doctrines 
successfully  as  the  policy  of  this  coun- 
try? And  if  you  do  not  believe  the 
Democratic  leaders  at  Baltimore  honestly 
made  those  declarations,  I  want  to  ask 
you  as  fair  men  if  you  will  be  parties  to 
a  fraud  before  the  American  people,  and 
go  before  them  in  the  Presidential  cam- 
paign to  steal  into  power  to  violate  the 
pledges  made  to  obtain  power.  [Ap- 
plause.] This  is  the  view  I  am  seeking 
to  present  to  the  Democratic  partisans 
of  this  State  I  say  we  do  not  believe 
that  the  Democratic  party  has  changed 
its  opinions,  but  we  do  know  that  a 
very  large  portion  of  the  Democratic 
party  refusing  to  follow  the  leadership 
of  Horace  Greeley,  have  decided  that 
they  will  change  their-  purposes ;  they 
will  fritter  away  no  more  of  their  lives 
in  vain  efforts  to  force  exploded  and  de- 
feated dogmas  upon  the  American  peo- 
ple, of  which  they  form  so  large  a  party, 
but  nevertheless  a  hopeless  minority. 
[Applause.]  And  then  in  our  audience 
there  is  another  large  element. 

There  is  a  large  element  of  men  so 
busy  in  building  up  and  promoting  the 
great  industrial  interests  of  the  nation 
that  they  do  not  give  strict  attention  to 
party  discussion,  and  have  no  strong 
political  affiliations.  Perhaps  the  work 
they  are  doing  is  better.  I  am  almost, 
certain  that  it  is  of  equal  importance 
with  that  of  the  Government  itself.  But 


3. 


it  is  a  double  track  we  go  on,  my  friends. 
There  need  be  no  collisions.  Business 
cannot  be  transacted  in  any  country 
where  the  public  tranquility  is  not  pre- 
served and  the  laws  faithfully  executed. 
To  those  men  we  propose  to  show  that 
this  Administration  has,  by  its  prudence, 
economy  and  integrity,  vindicated  the 
claim  of  its  friends,  that  the  safest 
course  to  be  pursued  is  to  continue  it  in 
power.  And  so  without  more  ado,  if 
you  will  be  patient  with  me,  I  will,  as 
briefly  as  possible,  state  what  I  assume 
to  be  the  claims  fairly  to  be  presented 
in  behalf  of  the  Administration.  When 
General  Grant  was  inaugurated  in  1869, 
lie  promised  the  country  economy  in  its 
administration,  the  preservation  of  tran- 
quility at  home  and  the  preservation  of 
peace*  with  foreign  nations.  Has  he 
redeemed  these  pledges  ? 

And  first  as  to  the  economy  of  the  Ad- 
ministration. Every  man  in  this  room. 
is  an  equal  joint  stock  owner  in  the  busi- 
ness of  this  Goverment.  There  is  no 
man  in  America  who  has  any  more 
power  within  himself  than  any  one  man 
here,  so  far  as  voting  is  concerned.  And 
every  man  here  has  the  privilege  of  per- 
suadmg  as  many  as-he  can  of  his  neigh- 
bors to  join  with  him  in  political  action. 
It  is  thus  political  power  is  made  up  and 
organized  in  this  country.  What  has 
been  done,  then,  with  the  money  that 
the  Tax  Collector  has  taken  from  your 
pockets ''.  Your  public  debt  has  been  di- 
minished up  to  the  1st  of  last  July,  a 
period  of  three  years  and  four  months, 
$334,000,000,  an  average  of  $100,000,000 
Si  year.  I  confess  I  was  one  of  those 
who  believed  the  public  debt  was  being 
diminished  with  too  great  rapidity  ;  that 
this  generation  had  borne  more  than  its 
proportion  of  the  heavy  burden  imposed 
on  us  by  tke  great  civil  war.  But  1  con- 
fess to  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  when  I 
realize  the  fact  that  none  of  this  money 
was  iilched  or  stolen ;  that  the  bonds  it 
represented  have  been  paid  to  the  national 
creditors  ;  that  they  have  been  cancelled, 
and  destroyed,  and,  furthermore,  that 
from  us  the  Government  will  hereafter 
demand  $22,000,000  less  every  year  for 
interest  alone  than  it  did  prior  to  the  ac- 
cession of  this  Administration  to  power. 
[Applause.]  Is  not  that  something  worth 
while ':  But  while  all  this  has  been  done, 
and  while  the  current  business  of  the 
country  has  been  growing  more  and 


more  expensive  with  the  growth  of  the 
country,  we  find  that  the  people  have 
been  called  upon  for  less  money  than 
they  were  called  upon  for  by  the  preced- 
ing Administration.  Our  books  show 
that  the  taxes  of  the  people  in  the  United 
States  were  reduced  $78,000,000  a  year, 
from  1870  to  1872.  [Applause.]  At  the 
last  session  of  Congress  these  taxes  were 
further  reduced  more  than  $51,000,000  a 
year,  so  that  during  the  present  year 
the  American  people  will  pay  $130,000,- 
000  of  money  less,  in  the  way  of  taxation 
than  they  paid  in  the  year  1868.  Upon 
every  article  of  foreign  importation,  con- 
sumed by  you,  the  duties  have  been  re- 
duced ten  per  cent.,  and  it  is  not  the 
fault  of  the  Administration  if  those 
with  whom  you  deal  do  not  sell  you 
every  given  article  of  merchandise,  of 
foreign  importation,  at  ninety  cents 
where  you  paid  $1  for  it  last  year.  The 
duty  is  entirely  removed  from  tea  and 
coffee,  as  well  as  from  many  small 
articles  entering  into  our  maufacturing 
interests. 

The  Internal  Revenue  tax  has  been 
greatly  abated,  until  now — changed 
from  the  complicated  and  cumbrous  ma- 
chine which  annoyed  and  irritated  the 
people  for  some  years  past — we  shall 
find  this  year  that  nothing  is  taxed  in 
that  direction,  except  what  we  drink  of 
liquors,  those  of  us  who  are  not  teeto- 
tallers;  what  we  smoke  and  what  to- 
bacco we  chew  and  what  checks  we 
draw  against  our  banking  accounts,  so 
that  any  man  may  entirely  abolish  the 
Internal  Revenue  tax,  so  far  as  he  is 
concerned,  if  he  only  abstains  from 
drinking,  smoking,  chewing  and  having 
a  bank  account.  [Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.] 

Now  if  you  have  an  agent  engaged  in 
transacting  your  business,  and  he  calls 
upon  you  for  a  great  deal  less  of  money, 
and  shows  you  that  your  business  ex- 
penses, through  an  increase  of  business, 
have  been  larger  than  before,  but  never- 
theless pays  them,  and  pays  off  a  greater 
amount  of  your  indebtedness,  calling 
upon  you  for  much  less  money  than  his 
predecessor  did — I  ask  you  if  he  is  not 
the  better  agent  of  the  two  ?  [Cries  of 
"yes,  5res,"  and  applause.]  Would  you 
care  to  change  it  ?  I  think  not.  I 
think  the  American  people  so  far  as  we 
have  heard  from  them  in  the  elections 
of  the  last  seven  months,  have  decided 


4. 


that  they  will  make  no  change.  But 
the  duties  of  Government  are  not  con- 
fined to  the  taking  care  of  the  pockets 
of  the  citizens.  Economy  is  a  duty,  and 
men  who  transact  the  public  business 
are  in  honor  bound  to  transact  it  at  the 
lowest  possible  cost.  But  there  are 
higher  duties  than  this,  the  duty  of  pre- 
serving the  public  peace  and  order,  of 
protecting  every  citizen  in  life,  liberty 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  We  main- 
tain that  this  Administration  has  faith- 
fully performed  that  duty.  If  any  man 
doubts  it,  let  him  read  the  denuncia- 
tions of  this  Administration  because  it 
has  preserved  order. 

Now  perhaps  the  people  living  in  San 
Francisco,  where  the  habit  of  order 
itself  is  so  strong  that  it  has  been 
able  to  prevent  any  disturbance  or  any- 
thing of  that  kind,  have  not  reflected  in 
regard  to  the  condition  of  things  in 
those  Southern  States  after  the  Rebellion, 
and  on  the  great  disorder  prevailing 
among  the  people  of  the  South,  where 
the  passions  had  been  aroused  by  the 
war — have  not  been  able  to  appreciate 
the  great  efforts  that  have  been  put 
forth  by  the  United  States  Government 
to  check  those  disorders,  the  great  ef- 
forts required  to  be  put  forth  by  Con- 
gress in  communities  where  they  did 
not  yet  feel  that  there  was  an  end  of  the 
war.  There  was  another  great  party 
which  claimed  that  the  States  alone  had 
the  power  to  check  these  disorders. 
Judge  Trumbull,  a  man  holding  an 
honored  position,  and  a  great  lawyer 
also,  believed  that  Congress  had  the 
power,  to  protect  the  blacks  of  the 
South,  against  whom  the  passions  of 
the  people  of  the  South  were  aroused 
by  the  disasters  of  the  battle-field. 
Yet  the  power  of  Congress  being  dis- 
puted, the  American  people  took  the 
matter  in  charge-r-to  determine  where 
they  would  lodge  the  power  to  pre- 
serve the  tranquility  and  protect  citi- 
zens throughout  the  country.  I  know 
our  Democratic  friends  fight  zealously 
against  innovation.  I  know  they  cry 
loudly  that  the  State  had  always  been 
allowed  to  maintain  the  power  to  enact 
all  such  laws.  But  the  American  peo- 
ple, acting  through  their  representatives 
in  Congress,  proposed  a  new  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution  which  should 
change  that  instrument  itself,  and  place 
that  power  in  Congress  which  it  was  de- 


nied Congress  ever  had  possessed  before, 
They  proposed  to  the  States  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment. 
But  Congress  could  not  pass  an  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution.  It  could  only 
propose  it,  and  then  the  States — the 
States  for  which  our  Democratic  friends 
have  so  much  respect  —  they  speak — 
three-fourths  of  them,  as  provided  in 
the  Constitution — and  declare  that  this 
Fourteenth  Amendment  shall  become 
a  part  and  parcel  of  that  instrument. 
[Applause.]  Every  man  in  the  Union 
who  voted  for  Members  of  Legislature 
of  his  State  had  a  voice  upon  that 
Amendment. 

Mr.  Calhoun  himself,  were  he  alive, 
would  never  call  in  question,  as  a  very 
distinguished  Democrat  of  this  State 
did,  the  power  of  three-fourths  of  the 
States  to  amend  the  Constitution  in 
every  particular,  except  to  change  the 
representation  in  the  Senate.  But  when 
we  thought  we  had  peaceably  settled 
this  thing,  when  we  thought  that  the 
strong  arm  of  the  National  Government 
could  constitutionally  be  put  forward, 
then  the  Democratic  party  made  a  new 
complaint.  Those  gentlemen  who  had 
vociferated  that  the  States  could  not 
go  out  of  the  Union  after  the  war — 
they  said  they  could  before  that,  a 
good  many  of  them  —  and  who  were 
very  much  distressed  because  the  Re- 
publican party  recognized  the  fact  that 
those  States  were  temporarily  unorgan- 
ized, unable  to  be  represented  in  Con- 
gress, j  ust  so  .soon  as  Congress  enabled 
those  States  to  form  Governments  for 
themselves,  to  elect  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives to  Congress ;  when  those 
States,  by  their  newly-elected  Legisla- 
tures, ratified  this  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment, the  Democratic  party  declared 
that  those  reconstructed  States  were 
no  States  at  all.  [Applause.]  That 
their  votes  should  not  be  counted  in  de- 
termining whether  or  not  three-fourths 
of  the  States  had  voted.  And  here  was 
another  muddle.  It  was  not  safe  for  the 
country  to  be  standing  upon  the  verge 
of  civil  war,  to  grow  out  of  what  was 
in  and  what  was  out  of  the  Constitution 
itself.  We  cannot  afford  to  have  a  quar- 
rel over  the  text  of  the  foundation  of 
our  governmental  system,  but  the  Demo- 
cratic party  about  two  years  ago  found 
out  a  cunning  evasion  of  the  question. 
They  concluded  that  they  could  no 


5. 


longer  afford  to  go  before  the  people  in 
opposition  to  this  new  grant  of  power 
to  Congress.  They  had  denied  that  the 
amendment  itself  had  been  adopted ;  but 
they  found  a  new  dodge. 

One  of  their  ablest  leaders,  Mr.  Val- 
landighaui,  of  Ohio,  now  dead,  incorpo- 
rated in  some  resolutions  in  the  State  of 
Ohio  the  declaration  that  the  amend- 
ments were  adopted,  but  that  when 
Congress  should  come  to  act  under  them, 
it  must  be  governed  by  the  old  Cal- 
houn  construction  of  the  Constitution,  a 
strict  construction.  What  they  claimed 
was,  that  although  the  amendments  had 
been  adopted,  Congress  had  no  power  to 
say  a  single  word  for  their  enforcement. 
They  argued  in  Congress  in  both  Houses 
against  any  legislation  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment. 
Now,  I  will  ask  any  Democratic  lawyer, 
and  I  will  invite  him  here  to  discuss  it  at 
any  time  from  this  moment  forward ;  I 
would  like  to  ask  him  if  Congress  has 
any  power  whatever  which  it  derives 
under  any  stronger  language  than  is 
contained  in  this  amendme'nt ;  "Con- 
gress," says  the  amendment,  "shall  have 
power  to  enforce  this  amendment  by 
appropriate  legislation."  I  beg  your  par- 
don, my  friends,  for  dwelling  so  long  on 
this,  but  it  is  the  only  tiling  on  which 
the  American  people  to-day  differ.  It  is 
the  only  struggle  in  this  nation.  A  strug- 
gle for  the  mastery  between  two  parties, 
the  one  boldly  declaring  its  doctrines, 
claiming  rightfully  the  power  under  this 
amended  Constitution,  to  put  out  the  na- 
tional arm  to  protect  every  citizen  within 
its  borders ;  aye,  and  every  human  being 
within  its  borders ;  and  the  other  party, 
evasively  and  fraudulently,  in  general 
terms,  claiming  that  they  accept  the 
Amendment,  while,  by  their  act,  by  their 
language,  their  words,  their  every  vote 
in  Congress  and  in  Convention,  they  de- 
clare that  Congress  derives  no  power 
from  that  Amendment ;  that  the  States 
alone  can  determine  when  and  whether 
they  will  protect  a  citizen  whose  'rights 
are  violated.  [Applause.]  We  have  had 
some  legislation  under  this  Amendment 
to  the  Constitution.  They  call  it  the 
Ku-Klux  Act.  They  say  there  are  no 
Ku-Klux-Klans  in  the  South,  and  that 
the  enactment  of  this  law  was  an  insult 
to  the  Southern  people,  and  intended  as 
an  electioneering  trick.  Now,  my  friends, 
I  dare  say  this  has  been  repeated  so  much 


that  a  great  many  men  honestly  believe 
it ;  but  if  they  would  be  careful  to  read 
the  current  history  of  the  times,  if  they 
would  trust  their  representatives  in  Con- 
gress, if  they  would  believe  the  reports 
of  Committees  of  Investigation,  they 
would  know  that  there  has  existed  for 
several  years  past  in  the  Southern  States 
bands  of  violent  men — whether  calling 
themselves  Ku-Klux-Klan  or  not  —  so 
designated,  at  least,  in  the  country.  The 
printed  testimony  on  this  subject  in- 
cludes the  testimony  of  men  who  were 
high  in  authority  in  the  Confederacy, 
both  in  civil  and  military  stations.  Some 
of  the  most  distinguished  Governors  and 
Generals  were  examined  as  witnesses, 
and  it  was  abundantly  proven  that  in  six 
States,  in  100  counties  of  these  States, 
429  murders  had  been  committed  by  these 
desperadoes,  and  nearly  three  thousand 
lesser  outrages.  Why  should  the  South- 
ern people  feel  outraged  at  investigations 
into  this?  Has  any  man  accused  the 
Southern  people,  as  a  people,  of  encour- 
aging these  things  ?  I  do  not  believe 
it  is  true  that  the  Southern  people  desire 
any  such  condition  of  things,  but  it  ex- 
ists. When  Mr.  Reverdy  Johnson  and 
Mr.  Henry  Stanbury,  the  former  Demo- 
cratic ex-Senator  from  Maryland,  and  the 
latter  Attorney  General  under  Mr.  John- 
son, were  called  to  the  South  to  act  as 
counsel  for  men  indicted  as  being  mem- 
bers of  Ku-Klux  organizations,  indicted 
under  Act  of  Congress  and  on  trial  in 
the  Federal  Courts,  these  gentlemen 
were  so  shocked  with  the  testimony  pro- 
duced in  the  very  trial  in  which  they 
were  engaged,  that  they  took  an  especial 
care  to  deny  what  they  thought  had  been 
intimated  —  that  they  had  a  dispo- 
sition to  screen  such  barbarities,  or 
to  deny  that  the  existence  of  these 
organizations  had  been  proven.  Rev- 
erdy Johnson  declared  in  his  address 
to  the  Jury,  as  counsel  for  the  defend- 
ants, that  while  he  had  been  trying  that 
case  he  had  listened  to  a  number  of  cases 
of  barbarity  that  would  have  curdled 
the  blood  of  a  savage  ;  that  they  must 
have  been  committed  by  men  who  were 
lost  to  all  sense  either  of  religion  or 
humanity.  It  is  not  worth  while  then, 
to  say  that  there  is  no  crime,  no  whole- 
sale crime  in  the  South,  growing  out  of 
hate,  prejudice  and  party  spirit.  If  the 
Congress  of  the  United  "States,  carefully 
keeping  within  the  letter  of  the  Consti- 


6. 


tution,  exercises  only  a  newly-granted 
power,  a  power  as  fully  granted  by  the 
people,  the  source  of  all  power,  as  is  the 
power  to  legislate  under  the  habeas 
carpus  clause  itself,  shall  it  be  said  that 
they  are  driving  the  country  off  into 
centralization.  They  may  nickname  it 
what  they  please,  the  law  is  written 
now  in  the  Constitution  itself,  that 
whosoever  is  not  protected  by  a  State 
shall  be  protected  by  the  nation.  [Ap- 
plause.] And  if  any  State  is  weak 
enough  to  be  unable,  or  wicked  enough  to 
be  unwilling  to  extend  the  protecting 
power  of  the  law  to  the  humblest  citi- 
zen within  its  limits,  that  citizen  will  be 
able  to  invoke  the  whole  power  of  the 
American  people  for  his  protection. 

If  this  is  centralization  it  is  the 
crowning  glory  of  the  political  history 
of  the  land.  '[Applause.]  And  when 
the  Republican  party  shall  pass  from 
power — as  pass  it  will — when  all  is  ac- 
complished that  as  bold,  as  true  and  as 
patriotic  a  band  of  men  as  compose  it 
can  perform,  when  nothing  else  is  left 
for  them  to  do,  the  proudest  page  that 
will  be  written  upon  its  annals  will  be, 
that  while  it  had  power,  "  the  obscurest 
citizen,  the  meanest  vassal,  nay,  the  very 
leper,  shrinking  from  the  sun  and 
loathed  by  charity,  might  ask  for  jus- 
tice." [Applause.]  Now  these  same 
gentlemen  who  have  so  much  to  say 
about  centralization  are  equally  glib 
and  flippant  upon  other  topics.  Their 
Christian  spirits,  their  lamb-like  hearts, 
are  stirred  to  the  innermost  depths  be- 
cause vindictiveness  prevails  in  the  Re- 
publican composition, .  and  there  is  no 
willingness  to  promote  reconciliation. 
Well,  now,  who  wants  to  be  reconciled, 
and  to  whom  do  they  want  to  be  recon- 
ciled? We  ask  the  question  in 'vain. 
Do  they  want  us  to  become  Democrats  ? 
We  cannot  do  that.  There  is  no  mate- 
rial in  us  to  make  an  old-line  Democrat 
of.  They  seem  to  find  it  difficult  to 
maintain  that  position  themselves.  But 
they  say  we  oppress  the  Southern  peo- 
ple ;  that  with  the  strong  arm  of  power 
we  have  placed  them  under  negro  rule, 
and  carpet-bag  government.  I  am  not 
here  to  bear  testimony  as  to  the  State 
governments  of  the  South.  My  opinion 
is  that  they  will  compare  favorably  with 
those  that  existed  prior  to  the  war ;  but 
if  this  be  not  so,  where  shall  complaint 
be  made,  and  by  whom  ? 


This  noisy  declamation  on  the  subject 
was  started  by  Horace  Qreeley  eighteen 
months  ago,  in  the  New  York  Tribune^ 
after  he  had  returned  from  his  perambu- 
lation through  the  South  as  far  as  Texas, 
to  tell  those  people  "  what  he  knew 
about  farming,"  and  to  see  what  he 
could  find  out  about  his  chances  for  the 
Presidency.  [Laughter.]  But  now  let 
me  tell  you  a  fact  that  has  direct  bear- 
ing upon  the  question  of  reconciliation, 
and  I  beg  your  attention  to  this  state- 
ment, for  I  find  a  great  many  Republi- 
cans who  have  been  mistaken  on  the 
subject. 

I  want  to  say  to  you  that  although 
sixty  thousand  more  or  less,  were  until 
lately  disqualified  from  holding'  office 
because  of  participation  in  the  Rebel- 
lion, the  sixty  thousand  embracing  only 
the  old  office-holding  class  of  the  South  ; 
in  none  of  the  States  of  the  South  since 
they  were  restored  to  representation  in 
Congress,  has  the  Federal  Government 
deprived  any  single  citizen  of  the  right  to 
vote,  by  which  I  mean  that  Jeff  Davis  was 
a  legal  voter  in  the  State  of  Mississippi 
from  the  time  the  Representatives  of 
that  State  were  admitted  to  their  seats. 
I  want  to  say  that  Admiral  Semmes, 
who  commanded  the  Alabama,  has  been 
a  legal  voter  ever  since  his  State  was 
restored  to  representation  in  Congress. 
And  there  never  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Legislature  or  State  Government  or 
county  or  city  government  elected  in  any 
Southern  State  at  any  time  since  they 
were  represented  in  Congress  after  re- 
construction ;  that  any  one  of  them  ever 
was  deprived  of  the  ballot  by  Constitu- 
tional amendments,  Act  of  Congress, 
other  decree,  or  other  action  of  the 
Federal  Government.  Well,  then,  isn't 
it  very  silly  to  complain -to  us  as  to  who 
is  elected  ?  What  business  is  it  of  ours 
who  is  elected  to  offi«  e  in  Alabama? 
What  power  has  Congress  to  cause  the 
election  of  better  men  to  office  in  the 
State  of  Alabama  ?  If  those  gentlemen 
choose  to  pout  and  sulk  in  order  that 
uneducated,  inexperienced  and  easily 
influenced  negroes  may  vote  for  men 
who  are  incompetent  to  discharge  the 
functions  of  public  office,  whose  fault  is 
it  ?  Is  it  ours  ?  Do  they  not  refuse  to 
vote,  let  the  elections  go  by  default  in 
order  that  they  may  make  complaints  in 
the  North,  that  they  may  go  to  these 
non-partisan  men  of  whom  I  have 


7. 


spoken  ;  those  men  who  respect  good 
government,  and  who  do  not  always 
stop  to  inquire  the  cause  of  bad  govern- 
ment ?  These  sullen  men  know  full  well 
the  strong  sense  of  fairness  among  the 
American  people,  and  with  humanity 
generally,  and  they  rely  upon  that  sen- 
sibility of  the  human  heart.  They  say 
we  have  been  whipped  and  humiliated, 
our  property  scattered  to  the  winds,  our 
brothers  killed  and  maimed  in  battle, 
and  still  they  are  not  content,  they  turn 
loose  upon  us  a  horde  of  uneducated 
voters  to  waste  our  substance.  This  is  a 
heartrending  story !  if  it  was  not  an  abso- 
lute falsehood.  Why,  those  fellows  who 
are  unwilling  to  help  themselves,  and 
want  sympathy  because  they  get  hurt 
by  neglecting  it,  are  very  much  in  the 
situation  that  a  little  dog  was,  that  I 
once  saw,  tied  to  a  load  of  wood  which 
was  being  hauled  into  the  market  by 
four  large  steady-going  yoke  of  oxen. 
The  little  fellow  was  tied  on  behind  by 
a  rope,  securely  fastened  at  both  ends, 
the  one  to  the  dog,  and  the  other 
to  the  wood.  But  he  did  not  want 
to  go  along  and  he  rolled  down  on 
one  side  and  allowed  that  team  of  oxen 
to  draw  him  over  the  sharp  stones  until 
it  had  stripped  all  the  skin  off  one  side. 
Very  distressing ;  just  as  those  poor  fel- 
lows did  during  the  war,  allowing  the 
skin  to  be  scraped  off  when  they  might 
have  stopped  it  any  moment.  And  then 
the  little  dog  turned  over  to  the  other 
side,  and  was  drawn  along  until  the 
skin  was  all  scraped  off  that  side  ;  just 
as  these  men  are  doing  now  by  refusing 
to  vote  and  have  better  governments,  if 
they  think  they  could  elect  better  men 
by  voting,  and  they  are  waiting  for 
Grant  to  be  beaten.  Think  of  it.  Think 
of  the  patience  of  these  men  waiting 
for  such  an  event.  [Great  applause  and 
laughter.] 

They  are  waiting  for  him  to  be  beaten, 
and  for  the  Democratic  party  to  be  in- 
stalled in  power  in  Washington,  and 
for  the  power  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  be  withdrawn,  that  they  may 
have  their  own  sway  in  the  Southern 
States,  with  no  restraint.  But  when 
they  find,  as  they  will  after  the  5th  of 
November,  that  their  hope  is  vain  now, 
as  it  has  been  during  the  last  twelve 
years,  they  will  do  just  what  that  little 
dog  did  :  he  got  right  up  and  waddled 
along  as  pleasantly  as  any  little  dog 


you  ever  saw  in  your  life.  [Applause 
and  laughter.] 

We  shall  have  to  continue  this  cen- 
tralization until  those  mistaken  friends 
of  ours  see  where  their  interests  lie,  and 
if  they  go  to  voting  and  have  got  votes 
enoug'h,  they  will  overthrow  the  party 
in  those  States ;  but  if  they  have  not 
strength  enough  they  will  not  over- 
throw those  governments.  Then  it  will 
be  free  and  fair  on  all  the  States.  I  wish 
they  would  go  to  voting.  I  am  recon- 
ciled; I  hope  every  one  of  us  is  reconciled. 
The  sooner  these  men  go  to  work,  and 
pursue  the  ordinary  course  of  life,  by 
participating  in  the  Government,  the 
sooner  they  will  get  over  their  pout,  in 
my  opinion. 

But  the  Government  had  made  an- 
other pledge,  to  which  I  have  al- 
luded. In  passing  from  the  subject  of 
the  preservation  of  tranquility  at  home, 
now  being  accomplished  under  the 
legislation  and  its  faithful  execution  by 
the  President,  we  look  abroad  and  find 
that  the  only  serious  difference  existing 
between  this  nation  and  any  foreign 
power  has  been  smoothly  bridged  over 
and  healed,  to  the  satisfaction  certainly 
of  every  American. 

THE  ALABAMA   QUESTION. 

When  the  President  came  into  power 
there  had  been  bequeathed  him  from 
the  preceding  Administration  an  unset- 
tled question  of  great  magnitude  with 
the  British  Government.  I  will  not  re- 
cite to  you  what  is  familiar  to  you,  the 
steps  by  which  was  created  a  Board  of 
Arbitration  to  sit  at  Geneva  and  deter- 
mine the  whole  question.  You  have  all 
seen  the  award  made  by  this  Board. 
You  have  seen  not  only  the  fifteen 
teen  millions  and  a  half  of  money  which 
our  citizens  lost  by  the  depredations  of 
Confederate  cruisers — paltry  in  compari- 
son with  the  other  questions  involved, 
but  sufficient  to  make  redress  to  every 
American  whose  ship  was  lost  through 
the  bad  action  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment, but  we  have  seen  five  Arbitrators 
selected  by  the  two  powers,  declaring 
that  Great  Britain  had  shamefully  vio- 
lated all  obligations  of  honor  and  good 
neighborhood  ;  that  she  had  trampled 
international  law  under  foot  in  her 
haste  to  assist  in  rending  this  nation  in 
twain  ;  that  she  had  been  in  fault  from 
beginning  to  end.  They  did  not  say 


8. 


that  it  had  been  willful,  but  their  lan- 
guage is  so  explicit  that  I  think  it  can 
leave  no  doubts  in  the  mind  of  any  man 
in  Christendom  that  they  meant  to  ren- 
der a  verdict  which  we  demanded that 

the  proud  neck  of  the  governing  classes 
of  England  who  constitute  the  English 
Government  should  bend,  and  that  the 
dignity  and  honor  of  the  American  na- 
tion should  be  vindicated.  Has  it  not 
been  done  ?  [Applause.]  It  was  not 
done  by  loss  of  blood  nor  by  loss  of 
treasure.  It  was  not  done  by  bluster- 
ing or  bullying.  The  quiet,  self-pos- 
sessed man  who  presides  over  the  desti- 
nies of  the  nation,  called  his  council  to- 
gether and  suggested  that  the  treaty  ne- 
gotiations should  take  place  in  Washing- 
ton, where  he  might  be  made  understand 
them  as  they  progressed;  and  all  this 
grand  result  has  been  attained  with  no 
disturbance  to  the  country.  The  finan- 
ces have  not  been  shaken  by  any  fear 
that  there  would  be  any  failure  to  con- 
quer a  peace  by  argument,  to  conquer  a 
peace  by  a  Congress  of  Nations,  to  real- 
ize the  dream  of  the  philanthropist  of 
finding  a  smoother  remedy  than  war  for 
adjusting  differences,  no  matter  how 
wide  And  this  was  the  President  who 
was  taken  from  the  head  of  the  army. 
This  was  the  military  usurper  whose 
Liberal  Republican  enemies  tell  you  that 
the  clang  of  the  sword  resounds  through 
the  White  House.  Who  does  not  know 
that  twenty  words  from  the  President 
would  have  drawn  out  the  latent  war 
spirit  which  slumbered  in  every  Ameri- 
can heart  and  created  a  war  party  in 
this  country  upon  which  he  could  have 
ridden  into  power  a  second  time  almost 
by  the  unanimous  wish  of  the  American 
people,  and  even  the  doughty  Mr.  Sum- 
ner  would  not  have  dared  to  say  nav 
[Apjplause.] 

Now,  I  have  taken  up  enough  of  your 
time  concerning  the  Administration. 
Now,  let  us  look  on  the  other  side.  Let 
us  see  if  we  can,  what  is  the  matter. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  dismantled 
condition  of  the  Democratic  ship.  We 
must  find  out  who  dismantled  it ;  what 
inducements  are  held  out  for  this  dis- 
bandment  of  the  Democratic  party  ;  who 
the  new  leaders  are  of  the  Democratic 
party  ;  what  incentive  they  had  for  their 
action  ;  when  it  commenced,  and  how  • 
how  far  they  have  got,  and  how  they 
like  it  as  far  as  they  have  got.  [Laughter] 


CARL    SCHURZ. 

In  1869,  it  so  happened  that  Missouri 
had  two  Senators  of  not  the  most  peace- 
able disposition — one,  Mr.  Carl  Schurz, 
and  the  other,  Mr.  Charles  Drake,  and 
they  quarrelled,  and  it  became  necessary 
when  the  term  of  Drake  was  expiring — 
and  is  it  not  strange  this  should  have 
anything  to  do  with  it,  but  it  has— that 
Drake  should  be  beaten  for  the  Senate, 
to  please  Schurz?    Schurz  is  a  great 
philosopher,  and  wanted  to  bind  up  the 
bleeding  wounds  of  the  two  sections  of 
the  nation  by  universal  amnesty.     That 
was  well.      But   Schurz,  who  is  a  very 
calm  philosopher,   and  believes  in  the 
freedom  of  discussion,  found  the  Repub- 
lican party  of  Missouri  agreeing  with 
him    on    the    question    of    submitting 
to  the  people  an  amendment   to  their 
State  Constitution  to  enfranchise  all  the 
Rebels  of  Missouri.     Now  when  Schurz 
found  he  could  not  get  up  a  quarrel  with 
his  party  on  that  ground,  although  he 
knew  that  four  to  one  of  the  voters  of 
Missouri  would  vote  to  change  the  State 
Constitution  of  that  State  for  the  doing 
away  of  all  disfranchisement   so  far  as 
the   State  law  was  concerned  —  then 
Schurz   concluded   he    would   have    to 
try  the  dodge  of  compelling  every  Re- 
publican to  vote   for  that  amendment. 
Because     the    Republican    Convention 
would  not  three  years  ago  aid  this  con- 
spirator in  a  less  palpable  way,  he  adopt- 
ed this  palpable  way  of  destroying  the 
party  in  that   State,   and  introduced  a 
resolution  in  the  State  Convention  de-  ' 
Glaring    that     every     Republican    waa 
bound  to  vote  on  election  day  for  this 
proposed    amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion.     He   was  defeated,  and  taking  a 
minority  of  the  Republican  party  long 
before  General   Grant  had  been  wicked 
at  all,  marched   out  of  the  Republican 
camp.     So  much  for  Schurz  and  his  dis- 
affection.   He  is  no  more  a  disaffected 
Republican  to-day  than  is  the  editor  of 
the  Examiner.      [Laughter.]      He   has 
been  fighting  this  party  for  three  years, 
and  long  before  there  had  been  created 
any  disaffection    against    it.       But    he 
comes  forward  now  as  a  leader  of  the 
new  Liberal  movement.     The  President 
stood  by  our  party  in  Missouri.     In  that 
election    the    Republican     party    went 
down,  and  as  the  result  of  the  coalition 
between  the  Schurz  Republican  bolters 


9. 


and  the  Democratic  party,  Mr.  Gratz 
Brown  was  elected  as  Governor  and 
General  Frank  P.  Blair  as  Senator  in 
Congress.  This  was  very  good  leaven. 
Then  came  some  real  grounds  for  disaf- 
fection in  the  party.  .  And  let  me  tell 
you  how  serious  they  were ;  because  I 
don't  want  any  Republican  to  vote  for 
General  Grant  under  any  misunderstand- 
ing. If  the  deeds  I  am  about  to  relate 
seem  to  you  sufficient  to  justify  a  great 
Senator,  who  has  been  honored,  as  has 
the  Senator  from  Massachusetts — Mr. 
Simmer — if  these  deeds  will  justify  him 
in  his  rebellion  against  the  party — 
in  his  shaking  hands  with  the  an- 
cient enemy — it  is  fair  for  all  Republi- 
cans to  have  notice  that  they  may  also 
do  as  he  does. 

Well,  Sumner  was  mistreated.  The 
President  met  him  on  terms  of  exact 
equality,  and  that  was  offence  enough 
for  Sumner.  What  American  citizen 
has  a  right  to  meet  him  on  grounds  of 
equality  ?  Is  he  not  the  patentee  of  hu- 
man liberty  ?  Did  he  not  originate  hu- 
man rights  ?  Has  he  not  pranced  upon 
this  hobby  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and 
has  not  everybody,  including  himself, 
greatly  admired  his  horsemanship? 
Why  should  the  President  refuse  to  bow 
and  cringe  to  the  mightiness  of  such  a 
man?  But  that  was  not  all.  Further 
cause  for  such  irritation  exists.  Sumner 
wanted  to  send  a  friend  of  his  as  Minis- 
ter to  Greece,  and  under  the  Constitu- 
tion the  President  has  the  power  to  ap- 
point that  Minister.  He  did  not  approve 
Sumner's  friend  —  that  was  number 
two.  Now,  then,  came  the  third.  Sum- 
ner and  the  President  had  a  great  fight 
as  to  who  should  be  appointed  Marshal 
in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  from 
the  very  habit  of  victory  Grant  won  the 
fight.  [Applause.]  The  last  of  all  that 
ends  this  strange,  eventful  history,  the 
great  Senator  called  at  the  White  House 
— so  the  papers  tell  me ;  and  I  think  the 
papers  generally  mean  to  tell  a  thing 
about  as  it  occurs ;  sometimes  they  may 
fall  into  a  little  error — they  tell  us  that 
the  Senator  called  at  the  White  House 
and  inquired,  with  his  usual  dignity  of 
manner,  of  some  messenger,  whether 
the  President  was  in,  and  the  messenger 
said,  "  I  will  see,  sir."  What  business 
had  he  to  see?  What  right  had  any 
man  to  keep  the  Senator  waiting?  I 
submit  it  to  you  all,  as  candid  men,  was 


it  right?  True,  the  President  might 
have  been  shaving,  and  the  sudden 
opening  of  the  door  might  have  caused 
him  to  cut  his  throat,  but  that  would  be 
a  trifling  circumstance  compared  with  a 
few  minutes  detention  of  so  august  a 
personage  as  Charles  Sumner ! !  And 
so  he  left  the  White  House,  as  the  paper 
tells  us,  in  high  dudgeon.  It  was  his 
last  call.  Then  the  Senator  drew  his 
Damascus  blade  and  undertook  to  run  it 
into  the  President  on  the  San  Domingo 
business.  BANCROFT 


SUMNER  AND  SAN  DOMIN 

The  statements  may  seem  of  small 
moment,  but  they  are  a  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  this  great  Liberal  Republican 
party.  The  President  of  the  United 
S:.ates  was  visited  by  an  Ambassador 
from  San  Domingo,  who  informed  him 
that  that  little  Republic  was  desirous  of 
annexation  to  this  country,  and  that  if 
our  Government  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  its 
overture  it  would  be  likely  to  place 
itself  under  the  protection  of  an  Euro- 
pean power.  General  Grant  thought 
such  an  acquisition  would  be  of  great 
value  to  this  country,  both  for  its  pro- 
ductions and  as  a  naval  depot.  He  caused 
a  Government  vessel  to  visit  the  island, 
and  sent  by  her  an  agent  to  make  en- 
quiries as  to  its  productions  and  the 
temper  of  the  people  on  the  subject  of 
annexation.  A  treaty  was  negotiated 
by  the  President  and  sent  to  the  Senate 
for  its  ratification  or  rejection.  There 
was  nothing  novel  in  this  proceeding. 
It  was  in  strict  conformity  with  the  Con- 
stitution. Well,  the  great  Senator  from 
Massachusetts  took  occasion  to  make  a 
speech  in  the  open  Senate  on  the  San 
Domingo  question — (of  course  the  con- 
sideration of  the  treaty  was  in  secret 
Executive  session) — in  which  he  used 
most  violent  language  concerning  the 
President.  He  declared  him  to  be  a 
worse  man  than  either  Pierce  or  Bucha- 
nan, and  even  intimated  that  his  con- 
duct called  for  impeachment  at  the  hands 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Would 
you  believe  that  before  he  made  this 
speech,  the  President  had  been  to  his 
house,  and  that  this  great  Senator  from 
Massachusetts,  as  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Relations  of  the  Sen- 
ate, had  given  the  strongest  assurances 
that  he  should  sustain  the  treaty  ?  [Ap- 
plause.] The  testimony  of  General  Bab- 


10. 


cock,  who  was  present  on  the  occasion, 
is,  that  Mr.  Suinner  said  "  he  could  not 
think  of  doing  otherwise  than  support- 
ing the  Administration  in  the  matter," 
and  that  "he  could  see  no  objection  to 
the  instrument  as  a  whole."  Colonel 
Forney,  who  was  also  present,  says  his 
recollection  was  that  the  Senator  assured 
the  President  "  he  would  cheerfully  sup- 
port the  treaty."  Senator  Sumner  is 
convicted  out  of  his  own  mouth,  in  the 
very  speech  he  made  in  the  Senate  to 
which  I  have  alluded.  I  read  from  his 
remarks  reported  in  the  Congressional 
Globe.  He  said  : 

"  He  (the  President)  proceeded  with  an 
explanation  which  I  very  soon  interrupt- 
ed, saying,  by  the  way,  Mr.  President, 
it  is  very  hard  to  turn  out  Governor 
Ashley  ;  I  have  just  received  a  letter 
from  the  Governor,  and  I  hope  I  shall 
not  take  too  great  a  liberty,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, if  I  read  it.  I  find  it  excellent  and 
eloquent,  and  written  with  a  feeling 
which  interests  me  much.  I  commenced 
the  letter  and  read  two  pages  or  more, 
when  I  thought  the  President  was  un- 
easy, and  I  felt  that  I  was  taking  too 
great  a  liberty  with  him  in  my  own 
house,  but  I  was  irresistibly  impelled  by 
loyalty  to  an  absent  friend,  while  I  was 
glad  of  this  opportunity  of  diverting  at- 
tention from  the  treaty.  As  conversation 
about  Governor  Ashley  subsided,  the 
President  returned  to  the  treaty,  leaving 
'  on  my  mind  no  very  strong  idea  of  what 
they  proposed,  and  nothing  with  regard 
to  the  character  of  the  negotiations.  My 
reply  was  precise.  The  language  is  fixed 
absolutely  in  my  memory:  '  Mr.  Presi- 
dent,' I  said,  '  I  am  an  Administration 
man,  and  whatever  you  do  will  always 
find  in  me  the  most  careful  and  candid 
consideration.'  *  *  *  My  language, 
I  repeat,  was  precise,  well  considered, 
and  chosen  in  advance:  '  I  am  an  Ad- 
ministration man,  and  whatever  you  do 
will  always  find  in  me  the  most  careful 
and  candid  consideration.'  " 

This  frank,  generous,  noble,  dignified 
statesman  —  this  very  Liberal  Republi- 
can —  versed  in  all  the  arts  of  speech, 
able  to  say  the  thing  he  did  not  mean, 
and  make  it  capable  of  double  construc- 
tion, said  to  the  blunt,  plain-spoken 
soldier,  who  was  armed  with  no  suspi- 
cion :  "  I  am  an  Administration  man, 
and  whatever  you  do  will  always  find  in 
me  the  most  careful  and  candid  consid . 


eration."  This  is  Mr.  Summer's  own 
statement,  and  he  says  he  chose  his 
words  "  in  advance  " — refreshing  ingen- 
uousness— honest  simplicity ! 

Now  what  shall  we  conclude,  admit- 
ting his  story  to  be  true,  differing  as  it 
does  from   the  testimony  of  two   wit- 
nesses— why  that  he  broke  off  a  conver- 
sation, a  consultation  he  was  holding,  as 
the  Chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations,  with  the   Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  concerning  a 
treajy  with  a  foreign  nation,  in  order  to 
bring  in  a  paltry  matter  of  an  office  for 
one  of  his  friends  ?    Was  it  a  bargain  he 
meant  to  suggest,  namely:   that  San  Do- 
mingo could  be  annexed  if  Ashley  could 
be  retained  as  Governor  of  Montana  Ter- 
ritory?    If  this  was  not  his  intention, 
then  his  selection,  both  of  occasion  and 
language,  was  not  made  with  his  usual 
care.     Did  he  not  juggle  in  words  with 
the  President,  and  do  it  for  the  express 
purpose  of  creating  an  impression  that 
he  should  support  the  treaty  ?   Certainly 
the  President   left   his  house  with  no 
doubt  of  the  Senator's  friendly  disposi- 
tion towards  the  San  Domingo  treaty. 
What   was   his  surprise    at    being  de- 
nounced in  the  Senate  as  a  usurper  and 
a  criminal,  for  negotiating  the  treaty, 
and  ihis  by  the  very  man  who  had  pro- 
fessed to  agree  with  him  ?     Why,  Sum- 
ner said  in  the  Senate,  that  on  the  shores 
of  San  Domingo  boards  were  put  up  on 
whicli  were  printed  the  names  of  the 
owners  of  property  acquired  during  the 
treaty  negotiations,  and  that  on  one  or 
more  of  these  boards  was  the  name  of  U. 
S.  Grant.  When  he  made  this  statement 
he  said  that  which  was  utterly  false,  and 
never  did  he  produce  the  slightest  testi- 
mony to  justify  it.     He  does  not  allow 
us  even  to  believe  that  he  had  been  made 
to  believe  it.   He  degraded  himself  in  an 
effort  to  degrade  the  President  of  the 
United   States.      An  investigation  was 
had  and  a  report  made  by  a  Committee 
of  the  Senate,   a  report  was  made  by 
three  Commissioners  sent  to  San  Domin- 
go— ex-Senator  Wade,  Prof.  White,  Pres- 
ident of  the  Cornell  University,  and  Dr. 
Samuel  G.  Howe  of  Boston.     The  result 
convicted  Senator  Sumner  of  having  ut- 
tered as  base  and  groundless  a  calumny 
against  the  President  as  had  ever  been 
directed  at  mortal  man.     There  is  not, 
and  has  never  been,  an  iota  of  evidence 
to  show  the  slightest  irregularity  in  any 


11. 


of  the  negotiations.  The  whole  charge 
was  the  fabrication  of  some  malicious 
brain.  The  President  came  out  of  the 
•affair  as  pure  as  the  driven  snow. 

"  The  man  recovered  from  the  bite, 
The  dog  it  was  that  died." 

THE    FRENCH    ARMS     INVESTIGATION. 

But  cause  must  be  found  for  a  war 
upon  the  President  by  those  who  thought 
they  had  not  been  sufficiently  considered 
in  the  distribution  of  patronage.  Ac- 
cordingly, Senator  Schurz  aired  his  re- 
fined patriotism  in  an  effort  to  convince 
the  world  that  the  United  States  had 
violated  international  obligations  during 
the  war  between  Germany  and  France. 
He  declared  that  the  German  Empire 
had  as  good  ground  for  war  or  quarrel 
with  this  nation  as  had  existed  between 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  on 
account  of  the  conduct  of  the  former 
during  our  civil  war.  And  when  the 
Senator  was  arraigned  for  his  want  of 
patriotism,  he  said  he  thought  it  was 
better  the  nation  should  be  convicted  of 
the  wrong  he  alleged,  and  be  elevated  to 
a  higher  standard  of  morality,  through 
the  hallowing  influences  of  repentance. 
The  idea  of  a  nation  being  self-convicted 
of  a  sin  never  committed,  in  order  that 
regeneration  might  follow  repentance, 
savors  somewhat  of  the  originality  of  the 
fellow  who  said  he  liked  to  turn  a  grind- 
stone, because  it  always  seemed  so  good 
when  he  left  off  turning.  [Laughter.] 

Senator  Sumner  introduced  a  resplu- 
tion  for  a  Committee  of  Investigation  to 
be  appointed  to  enquire  if  arms  had  been 
sold  to  the  French  Government.  To 
this  he  prefixed  a  long  preamble,  alleg- 
ing as  true  the  very  things  to  be  enquir- 
ed about,  and  which,  if  it  had  been 
signed  by  Emperor  William  would  have 
been  a  sufficient  declaration  of  war.  But 
do  not  imagine  that  he  desired  any  in- 
vestigation. He  and  Mr.  Schurz  had 
already  sat  in  judgment  without  hearing 
any  proofs.  They  had  but  to  pronounce 
sentence;  and  so,  instead  of  allowing  the 
committee  to  be  appointed,  they  occupied 
a  fortnight  in  making  stump  speeches 
in  the  Senate,  for  effect  upon  the  spring 
elections  —  and  upon  the  Republicans 
throughout  the  country.  "To  beat  Grant," 
was  the  work  in  hand.  If  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Connecticut  could  be  thrown 
to  the  Democracy,  General  Grant  would 
seem  to  have  lost  his  popularity,  and 
might  perhaps  be  beaten  in  the  National 


Convention.  The  public  business  was 
suspended,  and  the  old  rebel  element  of 
Washington  City  thronged  the  galleries 
of  the  Senate  to  hear  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  proven  dishonorable 
by  Charles  Sumner  and  Carl  Schurz. 
[Applause,]  The  Democratic  State  Cen- 
tral Committee  of  New  Hampshire  print- 
ed their  speeches  by  the  cartload,  and 
scattered  them  broadcast  over  the  old 
Granite  State  ;  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  the  Republican  party  came  to  have 
so  large  a  majority  in  the  March  election. 
A  similar  result  followed  in  Connecticut 
in  April,  although  the  N.  T.  Tj'ibune  lent 
the  Liberal  schemers  a  helping  hand. 
But  when  investigation  could  no  longer 
be  delayed  by  those  whe  had  accused 
the  Administration  of  wrong  doing,  it 
resulted  in  a  complete  vindication  of  the 
Government,  and  the  discomfiture  of 
Liberalism.  Laying  aside  the  report  of 
the  Republican  members  of  the  Commit- 
tee, we  have  the  minority  report  made 
by  Senator  Stevenson  —  a  Democratic 
Senator  from  Kentucky — declaring  that 
the  Secretary  of  War  had  been  prompt 
and  faithful  to  direct  that,  in  the  sale  of 
our  vast  surplus  supply  of  arms,  none 
should  be  sold  to  either  the  French  or 
German  Government;  and  that,  while 
errors  might  have  been  innocently  fallen 
into  by  some  lesser  officials,  it  was  clear 
that  no  officer  or  employee  of  the  Gov- 
ernment had  been  guilty  of  any  corrupt 
practice,  or  been  actuated  by  any  sordid 
consideration.  And  thus  ended  the 
noisy  humbug  of  sales  of  arms  to  the 
French ! 

"THE  GERMAN  VOTE." 

Senator  Schurz  had  taken  the  contract 
to  transfer  the  German  vote  to  the  oppo 
sition  if  Grant  was  not  defeated  for  a 
renomination.  My  friends,  there  is  no 
"  German  vote  "  in  this  country  —  Ger- 
mans there  are  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands, whose  hearts  beat  as  warmly  as 
our  own  at  the  sight  of  our  flag.  [Ap- 
plause.] They  are  men  whom  we  knew 
during  our  great  struggle  with  rebellion 
we  might  lean  upon  with  the  same  con- 
fidence that  we  could  upon  the  native 
born.  There  is  no  "  Irish  vote  ;  "  there 
is  no  "  foreign  vote."  We  are  in  Amer- 
ica. [Applause.]  I  would  not  trust  the 
man  whose  heart  did  not  beat  for  his  na- 
tive land.  Every  true  man  loves  his 
Fatherland.  But  I  am  not  going  to  ad- 


12. 


mit  that  the  German  -  Americans,  the 
Irish  -  Americans,  or  any  other  natural- 
ized Americans  are  unable  to  read,  think 
and  act  for  themselves.  [Applause.]  If, 
from  circumstances,  sympathies,  habits 
and  associations,  they  may  at  times  ap- 
pear to  show  their  nationalities  at  the 
polls,  what  I  have  said  is  none  the  less 
true.  Neither  Senator  Schurz  nor  any 
other  man,  however  eloquent  or  com- 
manding in  position,  will  transfer  the 
German  vote.  [Applause.] 

THE  COLORED  VOTE. 

Senator  Sumner  had  taken  another 
big  contract.  He  was  to  manage  the 
colored  vote.  The  Democrats  thought 
the  emancipated  slaves  of  the  South 
were  in  Sumner's  pocket.  Because  he 
had  been  in  the  front  when  they  were 
being  led  out  of  Egypt,  through  the 
parted  waters  of  the  Red  Sea,  he  himself 
thought  he  could  coax  them  back  into 
Egypt  and  deliver  them  again  into  the 
hands  of  Pharaoh.  [Applause.] 

' '  But  the  Lord  shut  the  waters  up 
And  he  couldn't  get  across." 

And  the  colored  voters  are  all  on  the 
right  side  of  Jordan.  [  Laughter  and 
applause.] 

But  Liberalism  must  be  busy  or  die. 
The  cries  of  San  Domingo  and  Arms- 
Sales  to  the  French  having  failed  of 
their  purpose,  they  hunted  farther. 

THE  NAVY  DEPARTMENT  INVESTIGATED. 

They  overhauled  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  He  had  paid  a  claim  incurred 
by  the  Government  during  the  war,  to 
Secor  &  Co.  A  Committee  of  the  House 
of  Representatives,  composed  of  two  Re- 
publicans, two  Democrats,  and  a  Lib- 
eral what-is-it — sat  in  judgment,  and 
the  Democrats  and  the  Republicans  com- 
pletely vindicated  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  and  declared  that  he  had  been 
blameless  in  the  whole  matter.  This, 
you  see,  was  Democratic  judgment  again. 

INVESTIGATION    OF    THE     POST     OFFICE 
DEPARTMENT. 

The  Postmaster  General  was  next  as- 
sailed. He  had  paid  a  claim,  and  done 
other  dreadful  things.  A  committee  was 
raised  of  Democrats  and  Republicans, 
and  that  committee  was  unanimous  in 
its  verdict  in  favor  of  the  Postmaster 
General.  You  see  it  was  a  hopeless  task, 
this  digging  down  for  grounds  of  attack 
upon  the  President  and  his  Cabinet. 


NEW  YORK  CUSTOM-HOUSE  INVESTIGA- 
TION. 

Then  they  declared  that  some  money 
was  being  improperly  made  by  Generals 
Porter  and  Babcock,  army  officers,  the 
former  acting  as  Private  Secretary  to  the 
President,  without  any  extra  pay,  and 
the  latter  as  Commissioner  of  Public 
Grounds  in  Washington.  These  gentle- 
men are  known  to  enjoy  General  Grant's 
confidence  and  affection.  They  were  with 
him  in  war  times,  and  have  ever  since 
been  near  him.  They  are  worthy  of  the 
relationship;  and  their  devotion  to  their 
former  Commander  is  the  subject  of  ad- 
miration with  all  who  are  not  mean 
enough  to  envy  them.  They  were  gross- 
ly assailed,  as  being  in  a  sort  of  copart- 
nership with  a  customs  warehouse  firm 
in  New  York  City.  The  sole  basis  of 
the  charge  was,  that  one  of  that  firm, 
who  served  in  the  army,  was  acquainted 
with  them,  and  had  been  favored  with  a 
letter  of  introduction  from  the  President 
to  the  Collector  in  New  York.  Upon 
this,  an  investigation  wss  had.  On  the 
committee  of  investigation  which  sat  in 
New  York,  was  our  Democratic  Senator, 
— that  industrious,  painstaking,  able  and 
penetrating  lawyer  —  Senator  Casserly. 
The  enemies  of  the  Administration 
ploughed  the  gutters  of  New  York  and 
brought  in  expelled  tide  waiters  and 
vagrants  for  witnesses.  But  there  could 
not.be  found  even  among  the  "discarded 
and  unj  ust  serving  men  "  of  this  Falfs- 
taffian  army  of  "outs,"  any  one  who 
would  swear  to  any  knowledge  of  any 
connection  whatever  between  anybody 
in  Washington  and  the  New  York  Cus- 
tom -  House,  or  warehousing  system. 
[Applause.] 

CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

This  was  the  last  effort  made  by  these 
extremely  liberal  leaders  to  show  any 
wrong-doing  on  the  part  of  the  Admin- 
istration. Their  calumnies  had  been 
scattered  to  the  winds  by  fair  -  minded 
Democrats,  sitting  as  investigators. 
But  something  must  be  done.  Sumner, 
Schurz  &  Co.  must  have  some  pretext  for 
joining  the  Democracy.  And  so  despair- 
ing of  convincing  anybody  that  the 
President  had  done  any  thing  wrong, 
they  addressed  themselves  to  the  task  of 
demonstrating  [to  the  country  that  he 
had  not  done  every  thing  that  was  right. 
[Laughter  and  applause.]  They  clam- 


13. 


ored  loudly  for  Civil  Service  Reform. 
Well,  our  party  is  for  that,  and  so  is  the 
opposition.  A  most  earnest  and  able 
man — George  W.  Curtis — known  to  be 
devoted  to  that  cause,  is,  by  th«  Presi- 
dent's appointment,  at  the  head  of  an 
Advisory  Board,  which  is  arduously  la- 
boring to  apply  a  new  system  to  the 
Civil  Service.  Every  facility  is  given  by 
the  Administration  for  a  fair  trial  of  the 
theories  of  the  Civil  Service  Reformers. 
"We  are  yet  to  learn  whether  there  is 
wisdom  enough  in  the  world  to  create 
moral  steel-yards  by  which  the  character 
of  men  can  be  determined — whether  a 
man  can  be  plied  with  questions  enough 
to  enable  a  Board  of  Commissioners  to 
decide  correctly  whether  he  is  honest 
and  fit  for  an  office;  whether  he  has  en- 
ergy, tact,  application,  and  other  qualifi- 
cations desirable  in  a  man  who  is  to  be 
entrusted  with  the  discharge  of  official 
duties.  By  all  means  let  us  have  the 
steel  -  yards,  if  they  can  be  made,  and 
nicely  adjusted;  and  then  let  us  see  how 
many  men  among  those  who  have  clam- 
ored so  loudly  for  them  will  be  willing 
to  be  weighed  by  them.  Well,  the  Ad- 
ministration having  preceded  its  assail- 
ants in  efforts  at  reforming  the  Civil 
Service,  they  fell  back  on 

REVENUE   REFORM. 

What  this  is,  nobody  seems  to  know. 
Xo  statesman  has  yet  been  wise  enough 
to  suggest  a  scheme  for  carrying  on  the 
Government  without  money.  These 
Revenue  Reformers  assailed  the  Tariff 
and  the  Internal  Revenue  system  with 
equal  ferocity,  although  every  dollar  we 
raise  must  come  from  one  source  or  the 
other.  It  is  pretty  clear  that  they  did 
not  mean  any  thing,  then,  but  to  make 
a  party  cry,  and  Reform  is  a  good  word 
for  that  purpose. 

I  have  endeavored  to  show  you  the 
means  resorted  to  by  sore-headed  Repub- 
licans to  prejudice  the  people  against  the 
President,  who  had  offended  them. 
They  thought  to  throw  dust  enough  to 
make  the  Republican  party  distrust  Gen- 
eral Grant's  availability  for  this  cam- 
paign. If  they  could  make  it  appear 
that  the  President  was  a  load  to  carry, 
instead  of  a  whole  team  to  pull,  they 
might  influence  the  elections  for  dele 
gates  to  the  Republican  National  Con- 
vention, and  with  Grant  thrown  over- 
board, some  man  might  be  selected  who 


would  be  a  more  pliant  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  these  baffled  politicians. 

THE  RISE  OF  LIBERAL   REPUBLICANISM. 

They  kept  at  work  until  they  found 
that  every  township  in  the  *  United 
States  by  a  vote  of  99  out  of  100  of  the 
Republican  masses  had  declared  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  to  be  their  choice  for  nominee 
of  the  Republican  party,  [great  ap- 
plause] and  when  they  found  that  there 
were  no  longer  any  honest  men  in  the 
Republican  party,  that  no  one  would 
heed  their  clamorings,  that  State  after 
State  instructed  its  delegates  to  vote  for 
the  re-nomination  of  President  Grant, 
these  voluminous  gentlemen  took  their 
satchels  and  portfolios  and  marched  out 
of  the  Republican  camp.  The  Spring- 
field Republican,  edited  by  little  Sammy 
Bowles  ground  out  its  hurdy-gurdy 
music  of  reform  and  honesty.  The  Chi- 
cago Tribune  told  the  Republicans  of 
the  Western  prairies  that  they  were 
being  cheated  and  misused  by  the  Ad- 
ministration. The  Cincinnati  Commer- 
cial flashed  and  crackled  with  opposi: 
tion,  and  the  New  York  Tribune,  which! 
a  few  weeks  before  had,  by  a  circular, 
begged  all  the  Republicans  to  renew 
their  subscriptions,  in  order  that  it 
might  go  to  every  Republican  fireside, 
and  support  and  advocate  the  Republi- 
can nomination,  joined  in  the  clamor  for 
the  organization  of  an  opposition.  They 
organized  an  opposition,  as  they  called 
it  to  meet  at  Cincinnati.  It  was  a  curi- 
ous gathering. 

Perhaps  some  of  you  have  read  the 
details  of  that  Convention.  It  had  a 
singular  lack  of  constituencies.  In  only 
a  few  instances  were  there  any  elections 
of  delegates.  For  the  most  part  the 
delegates  were  self-chosen.  Every 
anti-Grant  Republican  was  invited: 
"  Whsoever  will,  let  him  come  and 
partake  of  the  waters  of  Liberal 
Republicanism  freely,"  at  Cincinnati. 
[Laughter.]  I  guess  they  pretty  near- 
ly all  went  there  from  appearances, 
including  Rackerby.  [Applause.]  A 
man  needed  no  credentials  for  admission  ; 
he  needed  but  to  expose  a  sore  and  he 
was  welcome.  [Laughter.]  If  he  would 
unwind  the  political  forefinger  of  his 
right  hand  and  show  his  sore  as  I  have 
said,  that  was  a  sufficient  credential. 
If  any  man  lacked  influence  enough  to 
persuade  any  human  oeing  to  co-operate 


14. 


with  him,  Cincinnati  was  the  place  for 
him.  [Applause.]  And  thither  he  wend- 
ed his  way.  If  any  man  had  been  on  a 
hunt  for  office,  for  a  lifetime,  and  never 
had  overtaken  one,  or  if  he  had  stolen  the 
funds  of  an  office,  and  had  been  expelled 
therefrom,  his  march  was  onward  for 
Cincinnati.  It  was  a  hopeful  band — an 
asylum  for  misdoers,  and  a  political 
hospital  for  the  bruised  and  wounded. 
If  they  had  been  left  alone,  what  a  wail 
of  anguish  they  would  have  sent  up  at 
the  corruption  of  the  Republican  party, 
in  not  feeding  them,  with  office.  How 
gaunt  their  sides,  how  luxuriously  they 
fed  upon  hunger  itself !  How  delighted 
they  were  that  that  they  had  been  mis- 
treated, that  they  might  grumble  about 
it.  They  belonged  to  that  school  of 
philosophers  who  believes  that  whatever 
is,  is  wrong.  [Applause.]  And  there 
was  another  motive  to  go  there ;  it  was 
the  golden  opportunity.  Never  again, 
perhaps,  during  their  whole  lifetime, 
would  it  occur  that  they  could  occupy 
as  proud  and  notable  a  position  before 
the  country  ;  at  their  own  instigation ; 
at  no  man's  bidding  but  their  own ; 
every  man  his  own  constituent  in  a  Re- 
publican body.  But  evil  things,  in  robes 
of  darkness,  penetrated  that  house  of 
mourning.  The  rogues  of  Tammany 
had  no  compassion.  I  hold  it  to  be  the 
stoutest  and  most  convincing  evidence 
of  total  depravity— far  exceeding  any- 
thing that  they  ever  did  in  New  York 
City — that  these  hungry  souls  were  not 
allowed  by  them  to  unpack  themselves 
with  cursings  unmolested.  They  were 
not.  It  was  the  only  Convention  that 
Tammany  could  to  go  near  this 
year ;  no  other  Convention  would 
tolerate  their  approach.  Of  all  those 
Liberal  Republicans,  the  four  or  five 
managers  really  intended  to  put  up  a 
man  of  some  stamina  in  the  country, 
some  man  who  could  command  the  re- 
spect of  the  main  body  of  quiet,  thinking 
people.  They  had  talked  seriously  of 
Judge  Trumbull,  of  Illinois,  a  very  dis- 
tinguished statesman,  as  we  all  know,  a 
man  of  unquestioned  probity  of  charac- 
ter, great  ability — a  little  impractical  in 
party  matters,  but  a  most  excellent  legis- 
lator and  highly  respected.  If  they 
could  have  nominated  him  we  should 
have  felt  some  pull  at  the  other  end  of 
that  rope  I  spoke  of  at  the  outset. 
Charles  Francis  Adams  was  proposed  by 


others,  a  name  honored  throughout 
Christendom,  but  Tammany  either 
thought  him  lacking  ability,  or  thought 
he  did  not  come  from  a  family  respect- 
able enough,  or  from  some  other  cause, 
they  set  him  aside.  And  who,  of  all 
mankind,  did  they  bring?  That  fond 
and  foolish  old  man,  that  man  in  his 
dotage,  who  rides  about  the  country  in 
railroad  cars  asleep,  who  loses  his  mem- 
ory, and  makes  niisstaternents  freely  in 
the  New  York  Tribune,  (and  we  all  know 
it  is  the  habit  of  very  old  men  to  lose 
their  memory).  He  was  the  conquering 
hero  of  the  hour.  [Applause  and  laugh- 
ter.] It  looked  to  me  as  though  those 
Liberal  Republicans,  as  they  were  forced 
into  companionship  with  the  Democratic 
party,  had  determined,  indeed,  that  they 
would  put  upon  the  head  of  their  life- 
long enemy  the  fool's  cap  and  bells. 
They  nominated  Horace  Greeley  out  of 
spite ;  or  was  it  to  conciliate  the  De- 
mocracy ?  Was  it  because  in  1860  he 
had  advocated  the  right  of  secession  ? 
For  in  the  Georgia  Convention,  when 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  made  his  never- 
to-be  forgotten  appeal  against  secession, 
he  was  confronted  by  a  copy  of  the  New 
York  Tribune  held  in  the  hand  of  Robert 
Toombs,  as  an  argument,  and  against 
him.  But  the  Democracy  are  also  com- 
pelled to  remember  in  the  same  connec- 
tion, that  when  this  syren  song  had  been 
sung  long  enough  by  some  of  the  people 
in  the  North  to  encourage  secession,  that 
Horace  Greeley  was  among  the  first  and 
most  furious  to  cry  "Havoc!"  and  urge 
the  Government  to  "  let  slip  the  dogs  of 
war  "  upon  the  South.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, the  compliments  that  Horace  Gree- 
ley had  passed  through  the  New  York 
Tribune  upon  the  Democratic  party  were 
remembered  by  the  Liberal  Republicans, 
and  they  were  thought  to  be  weighty 
considerations  in  this  matter.  You  have 
all  read  them,  but  be  it  as  it  may,  forth 
came  Horace  Greeley  as  the  Liberal  Re- 
publican nominee.  But  where  was  the 
Democratic  party  all  this  time  ?  A  clan- 
destine courtship  had  been  going  on  all 
those  months  to  which  I  have  called 
your  attention,  and  the  intended  bride 
was  doing  the  wooing.  The  nuptials 
were  to  be  celebrated  at  Baltimore  on 
the  10th  of  July.  "  Give  us  your  black- 
est Republican, '  and  then  we  will  take 
burnt  cork,  if  it  is  necessary  to  go 
through  this  campaign  and  win  the  offi- 


15. 


ces  and  patronage  of  the  Government." 
And  so,  on  the  10th  day  of  July,  at  pre- 
cisely one  o'clock  P.  M.,  the  hitherto  stub- 
born Democracy  saw  a  great  sight,  to 
which  that  seen  by  St.  Paul  on  his 
journey  to  Damascus,  must  have  been 
but  as*a  rush-light.  [Applause.]  "Right 
a,bout  face,"  was  the  word.  They  de- 
clared that  they  never  had  told  a  truth 
since  they  were  born  into  the  world ; 
that  they*  did  not  believe  anything  they 
had  ever  preached  ;  that  they  were  per- 
fectly satisfied  the  Radical  'Republican 
party  had  been  entirely  right  in  every- 
thing they  had  done,  that  the  policy  of 
the  Government  against  which  they  had 
contended  in  reason  and  out  of  reason, 
was  the  very  policy  of  all  policies  to  ex- 
cite the  admiration  of  the  Democratic 
party.  They  set  aside  their  Democratic 
creed ;  they  adopted  the  Republican 
creed  as  their  own  :  they  declared  that 
Democrats  were  no  longer  fit  to  be  en- 
trusted with  the  honors  of  office  ;  and 
endorsed  "Honest  Horace  Greeley" — 
and  Gratz  Brown  (I  had  nearly  forgotten 
him).  [Laughter  and  applause.]  Was 
ever  such  a  masquerade  as  this  ?  What 
is  their  own  statement  of  it  ?  See  if  I 
do  not  state  it  to  you  as  they  state  it, 
and  how  does  it  sound  from  a  Republi- 
can platform?  They  say  they  must 
have  possession  of  the  Government  be- 
cause they  have  been  "  in  a  moment — 
in  the  twinkling  of  anleye,"  convinced 
that  they  ought  not  to  have  sympathized 
with  those  who  sought  its  destruction. 
They  claim  that  they  should  have 
possession  of  Congress  in  order  that  the 
Democratic  party  may  in  Congress  carry 
out  Republican  policy,  a  Radical  policy, 
a  policy  of  centralization  and  oppression. 
They  declare  that  General  Grant  must 
be  beaten  at  all  hazards,  and  by  what- 
ever means,  because  he  has  done  the 
things  which,  with  uplifted  hands,  they 
swear  Horace  Greeley  will  do  if  elected 
to  supersede  him.  "  They  demand,  in 
short,  that  the  Republican  party  shall 
be  displaced  from  power  because  it  has 
never  done  wrong,  and  that  the  Demo- 
cratic party  shall  be  installed  in  power 
because  it  has  never  done  right.  [Ap- 
plause.] I  do  not  pretend  to  say  what 
they  mean,  but  this  is  what  they  say. 

Now,  my  friends,  I  do  not  propose  to 
regale  you  with  any  quotations  from 
HORACE  GREELEY'S  RECORD. 

I  have  not  time,  nor  have  you.     Nor 
would  it  be  interesting.     I  call  your  at- 


tention to  the  fact  that  he  has,  during 
all  his  political  lifetime,  been  an  erratic, 
uncertain  and  unstable  man.  That  he 
has  been  a  most  vigorous  and  powerful 
advocate  of  anti-slavery  views,  none  will 
deny  ;  that  he  offered  to  throw  away  all 
this  labor  in  1860,  cannot  be  contradict- 
ed. "  Take  your  slavery,  and  go  out  of 
the  Union  with  it,"  said  he,  in  substance, 
to  the  South.  He  was  for  war  in  time 
of  peace,  and  he  was  for  peace  in  time  of 
war.  He  clamored  "on  to  Richmond," 
when  our  troops  were  raw  and  undisci- 
plined, and  the  corpses  of  our  brave  boys 
filled  the  trenches  because  Horace  Gree- 
ley, as  the  editor  of  the  great  Tribune 
newspaper,  had  power  enough  in  Amer- 
ica to  make  an  Administration  unpopu- 
lar unless  it  fought  before  it  was  ready; 
but  when  the  Rebellion  was  crippled 
and  broken,  then  he  could  hunt  up  fugi- 
tive Confederate  non-combatants  in  Can- 
ada, without  authority  to  speak  for  the 
Confederacy,  and  fret  and  annoy  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  with  his  absurd  negotia- 
tions. He  wanted  to  buy  slavery  of  the 
South,  after  it  had  ceased  to  exist.  Now, 
in  his  old  age,  he  comes  forward  as  the 
nominee  of  a  patch -work  party  —  the 
high  -  protection  candidate  of  the  free- 
traders —  the  candidate  of  civil  service 
reform,  alter  having  hunted  office  for 
thirty-five  years.  Why,  in  1859,  he  pub- 
lished to  the  world  a  letter  written  by 
him  to  Gov.  Seward,  several  years  before, 
in  which  he  proclaimed  a  dissolution  of 
their  previous  political  association,  be- 
cause he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  treat- 
ment he  had  received  as  to  office.  His 
thirst  for  office  was  unslaked  and  raging. 
He  separated  from  the  Administration 
of  General  Grant  solely  on  the  ground 
of  patronage,  and  so  declared  in  a  letter 
to  the  Chairman  of  the  Republican  State 
Central  Committee  of  New  York.  He 
said  that  if  some  of  the  appointments  for 
New  York  had  been  different,  harmony 
would  have  been  possible,  but  it  was 
then  too  late.  He  is  the  candidate  of 
the  Democracy,  who  declare  that  the 
party  from  which  he  has  just  deserted, 
have  invaded  the  rights  of  the  States, 
and  torn  the  Constitution  in  pieces, 
after  having  himself  insisted  upon  the 
legislation  for  the  Ku  Klux  marauders  ; 
upon  the  adoption  of  the  Constitutional 
Amendments,  and  of  all  the  reconstruc- 
tion measures.  Nay,  after  finding  fault 
with  Congress,  in  the  Tribune,  because 
more  stringent  measures  were  not  adop- 


16. 


ted,  lie  now,  to  tickle  the  ears  of  his 
new  associates,  tells  them  that  the  States 
ought  to  have  sole  control  over  all  these 
affairs.  The  people  will  not  see  that 
this  man  has  shown  any  thing  through 
life  which  should  encourage  them  to 
make  a  change  from  Grant  to  Greeley. 

CIIARLES   CLAYTON   FOR  CONGRESS. 

But  you  have  another  duty  to  perform 
besides  selecting  your  Chief  Magistrate. 
You  have  to  elect  a  member  of  the 
Lower  House  of  Congress.  No  man  can 
be  blind  to  the  importance  of  harmony 
between  the  different  branches  of  the 
<  iovernment.  No  man  who  saw  the  dis- 
turbances to  which  the  country  was  sub- 
jected during  the  Administration  of 
Andrew  Johnson,  when  he  was  at  war 
with  Congress,  will  doubt  for  a  moment 
that  some  very  good  reasons  should  be 
given  for  withholding  support  from  a 
candidate  for  Congress  of  the  same  po- 
litical views  with  the  President.  Happily 
in  this  district  there  is  no  such  disposi- 
tion. The  Republican  party  of  this  dis 
trict,  when  it  came  to  select  a  candidate 
to  be  submitted  to  the  people  for  their 
suffrages,  selected  one  of  its  most  popular 
and  trusted  members.  The  office  sought 
Charles  Clayton.  [Applause.]  The  hon- 
orable business  man,  the  faithful  neigh- 
bor and  friend,  the  upright  official  in  all 
the  public  stations  he  has  filled.  The 
people  of  San  Francisco  may  well  be 
content  with  the  prospect  of  being  re- 
presented by  him  in  Congress.  [Ap- 
plause.] He  will  receive  the  united  vote 
of  all  who  would  vote  for  Grant,  and  I 
believe  that  that  will  give  him  eight 
thousand  majority  in  San  Francisco. 
[Great  applause.] 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  I  am  nearly 
done.  I  appeal  not  to  Liberal  Republi- 
cans ;  I  hope  we  have  done  with  them 
forever.  [Applause  and  laughter.]  They 
have  followed  the  baggage-wagons  of 
the  Republican  party,  scenting  out  the 
Commissary  Department,  indignant, 
however  well  ted  themselves,  at  seeing 
anybody  else  honored,  like  pigs  at  the 
trough,  with  snout  and  fore-feet  in  the 
whey,  i'eeling  hungry  if  other  pigs  are 
fed.  [Laughter.]  The  Almighty  made 
Liberal  Republicans  to  exhibit  to 
mankind,  here  in  this  country,  what 
envy  ami  malice  combined  can  do.  They 
are  useful  as  examples.  I  think  there 
is  no  material  in  them  to  make  better 
j'.ut.  I  believe  in  progress,  and 
if  during  the  next  year,  or  in  the  next 


age,  or  in  the  next  world,  generosity  and 
decency  should   sprout  in  their  hearts, 
then  I  should  hope  to  see  them  encour- 
aged. But  to  them,  at  this  time,  I  make  no 
appeal.  To  those  Democrats  who  still  are 
clinging  to  the  old  Democratic  opinions, 
meanly  pretending  that  they  have  given 
them  up,  hoping  to  obtain  power  through 
fraud,  I   make  no   appeal.     But  to  the 
Democrat   who   has    not    changed    his 
opinions,  but  who  does  not  believe  that 
Horace  Greeley   is  an  honest  exponent 
of  those  opinions ;  to  those    Democrats 
who  are  not  willing  to  try  to  sneak  into 
power  under  false  pretences,  I  say  :    We 
do  not  ask  you  to  surrender  your  opin- 
ions, for  you  cannot ;  but  at  'least  wait 
until  some  more  favorable  opportunity  to 
contend  for  them.    Stand  by  the  safe 'and 
prudent  Administration  of  Gen.   Grant, 
and  continue  it  in  power.     [Applause.] 
Come  in  among  us,  and  deliberate  hon 
estly  and  squarely  with  us  as  to  what 
powers  are  given  by  the  Constitution, 
and  you  will  find  thoughtful  and  henest 
Republicans  meeting   you,  as  desirous 
as  you  are  that  the  action  of  Congress 
shall  tally  exactly  with  that  instrument ; 
and  when  we  cannot  agree  we  have  a 
tribunal  to  which  to  submit  any  ques- 
tion of  difference.     The  old  Democratic 
party  was  never  afraid  to  trust  a  Consti- 
tutional question    with  the    Judiciary. 
Why  attempt  to  regain  power  in  a  hope- 
less   contest     by    pretending    to    have 
changed  your  views  ?     Come  among  us, 
and  if  the  war  has  made  us  extravagant 
in  our  ideas  of  Congressional  power,  if 
you  think  any  clause  in  the  Constitution 
has   been  strained   by  any  act  of  Con- 
gress, show  it  to  us  ;  help  us  to  send  men 
to  Congress  ;  share  with  us  the  power  of 
the  Government  and  bring  the  ship  of 
State  to  the  even  keel  of  Constitutional 
Republican   Democracy.   [Applause.]     I 
believe,  as  I  have  said  before,  if  we  may 
judge  from  what  has  taken  place  in  the 
country  during  the  seven  months  past, 
that  there  are  Democrats  enough  who 
take  this   view,  and  non-partisan  men 
enough,  attentive  to  their  business   in- 
terests, looking  to  the  safe  conduct  of 
public  affairs,  united  with  the  Republi- 
cans, to  sweep  this  country  by  a  victory 
such  as  has  not  been  seen  by  any  politi- 
cal party  since  '52.     [Applause.]     I  be- 
lieve that  Grant  saw  his  political  Donel- 
son  in  North  Carolina,  his  Vicksburg  in 
Maine,  and  that  he  will  see  his  political 
Apporaatox   on  the   5th   of  November. 
[Great,  long  and  continued  cheering.^ 


